Fabrication of Inorganic Filler-Polyurethane Composite Foam and Postcure Effect on Mechanical Properties

Inorganic micropowder(Ce500)-filled polyurethane composite foams were fabricated and the effects of postcure on the mechanical properties were studied by the measurement of polymerization temperature, TGA, and UTM test. Temperature for the maximum reaction rate of 20wt% Ce500-filled sample reached upto ca. within 10min. and, for the same sample, double mode thermal decomposition was observed around two distinguished temperatures of and . The activation energies for the decomposition were calculated using Kissinger method as 117.4 and 139.4 kJ/mol, respectively. While break strength and hardness of the sample seemed nearly affected by postcure time at , elongation, however, was significantly changed upto 1.72 times after 7hrs treatment. As the results, the condition of 7hrs at was considered as the optimum postcure condition for the Ce500-filled PU composite foam samples.